Coil winding machine



March 2, 1965 H. w. MOORE con. WINDING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed NOV. 23, 1959 IN V EN TOR. HflEEY W M0026 BY 6 March 2, 1965 H. w. MOORE con WINDING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 23, 1959 March 2, 1965 H. w. MOORE COIL. WINDING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. 23, '1959 E INVEN TORH HA'RZY n! M0025 BY g WW ///5 flTTOF/VEYS March 2, 1965 H'. w. MooRE 3,171,607

con. WINDING MACHINE. Filed Nov. 25, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVEN TOR. M45? Y W M0056 United States Patent 3,171,607 (19H. WTNDENG MAQHENE Harry W. Moore, -951 Kittridge Road, Dayton, Uhio Filed Nov. 23, 1959, Ser. No. 854,739 5 Claims. (Ql. 242-9) This invention relates to a coil winding machine and more particularly to a coil winding machine used in winding transformers wherein one of the windings consists of a sheet of material equal in width to the combined width of the other windings, although not necessarily so limited.

Recently, transformer windings or coils have been developed wherein a sheet of copper or a sheet of aluminum, or any other suitable metallic foil having the width of the combined Width of the high voltage insulated wire windings, has been wound into a spiral, so as to form low voltage windings or coils.

The terminals of the sheet metal windings or coils consist of bus bars soldered, welded or fused to the ends or" the sheet metal windings, these bars projecting beyond the width of the windings or coils at least on one end thereof. This has resulted in the requirement for a new mode or method of manufacturing transformers.

It is an object of this invention to provide apparatus for carrying out the method of winding, the transformers having at least one coil consisting of a continuous length sheet of material wound interleaved with a sheet of insulating material.

Another object of this invention is to provide supports for the low voltage and high voltage outlet terminals.

Another object of this invention is to provide adjustable side walls or side guides for the coils, so that the same device may be used in winding various sizes of transformers without changing the entire form.

Another object of this invention is to provide at least two separate types of tensioning devices, one for tensioning a sheet of material wound into a low voltage coil and another for tensioning the wires or conductors wound into a high voltage coil.

Other objects and advantages reside in the construction of parts, the combination thereof, the method of manufacture and the mode of operation, as will become more apparent from the following description.

In the drawings, FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a coil winding machine wherein the sheet of material forming the low voltage winding is attached to the bar from a terminal for the low voltage winding.

FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view, taken substantially on the section line 22 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 3 is a rear end elevational view of the winding machine.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary, enlarged view of the driving mechanism.

FIGURE 5 is an end elevational view disclosing the adjusting devices for some of the feed rollers and a series of brake mechanisms for the feed rollers.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary view of the core and the bracket member with parts broken away.

FiGURE 7 is a fragmentary top plan view of the core member, the bus bar and the brackets for holding the same.

This coil or transformer winding machine complete with drive mechanism is mounted Within a housing ill and is quite similar to the driving mechanism more fully disclosed and described in the Harry W. Moore application for United States Letters Patent Serial No. 737,079, filed May 22, 1958, for Clutch Control for Transformer Coil Winding Machine, now Patent No. 3,095,160. The driving mechanism includes an electric motor A. driving a pulley B connected to shaft C driving a speed changing 3,,l7l,607 Fatented Mar. 2, 1965 "Ice device (not shown) in the housing D. The speed changing mechanism drives the shaft E and the pulleys F and G. The pulley G drives pulleys H and l, the pulley I driving a pulley I connected to a speed changing device mounted in the housing.

The drive mechanism includes the speed varying device 12 and traversing mechanism 14 mounted upon a rail or track 16 provided with adjustable stops 18 and 2t). The operation of these parts is substantially the same as that disclosed in the above identified application Serial N0. 737,079, now Patent No. 3,095,160. The traversing mechanism may support two wire guiding rollers 3d and 32. In view of the complete description of this mechanism in the Moore application mentioned above, it is deemed unnecessary to describe this mechanism in detail.

As stated above, the low voltage winding or coil may consist of a sheet of conductor material, such as a foil of copper or aluminum. Several problems are encountered, including the provision of electric terminals or outlets for the sheet material coil. The core Sll for the transformer coil is mounted between a head stock driven spindle 52 and a tail stock spindle 64. The tail stock 74 is adjustably mounted on the support 66. The spindle 64 may be adjusted to the right, as shown in FIG- URE 1, by loosening the locking member 72 and then rotating the wheel '79, to thereby release the core 50 and the windings mounted thereon, as will appear more fully later. The core may be made from two reversely tapering members 50a and 5612, as is well known in the art.

The form upon which the transformer windings are wound may be referred to as a composite form, in that it includes the core 50 and end members or bracket members and 82-. Member 82 is fixedly attached to the spindle 52. The end member 80 is rotatably mounted on the tail stock spindle 64. End member 8t) includes arms fiila and 3% and the end member 82 includes arms 82a and 82b. The core is positioned in suitable recesses 83 in end members S ll and 82 and only one of said recesses has been illustrated in FIGURE 6. The arms 83a, 8%, 32a and 82b are provided with notches 84 adapted to receive a clamping member as. This clamping member extends across the core 50. A bus bar or lead connecting bar 91 has the end of a sheet of copper $2 soldered or welded thereto.

As best seen in FIGURE 7, the bus bar 91 has a recess 256 in one end thereof. A clip 252 of sheet metal is provided with a head portion 254 that is seated in the recess 25d. The clip 252 may be made from sheet metal that is no thicker than the thickness of bus bar 91 and probably of less thickness. This clip 252 is attached to a bar 256 mounted on the arm 8211. Each of the arms 8% and 8% is provided with a guide portion 260 that supports a bar 27th. Likewise, each of the arms 82a and 32b is provided with a guide portion 2% that supports a bar 256. A suitable set screw 262 clamps the bar 256 upon the guide 26d. On the right hand side, as viewed in FIG URE 7, the bar 270 may be provided with an undercut notch 272, as shown in FIGURE 2, that straddles the bus bar hit.

The bus bar 1 is held in position during the winding operation by the bars 256 and 276, as shown in FIGURE 7. After a coil has been wound, the bars 256 and 270 may be released, in that the bus bar is then held in position by the windings. The clip 252 is suiiiciently thin that it can be worked out betwen the bus bar 91 and the overlying or underlying windings, as the case may be.

As viewed in FIGURE 2, the bar 91 to which the initial end of the foil is attached is located in the clockwise direction from the clamping member 98. After the foil has been wound, the bus bar 91 is located in a counterclockwise direction from the clamping member 90.

The bars 270 may be provided with screws 280 and 282, respectively, that are available for use in clamping the ends of the wires to the bars 276). A pressure member 94 is inserted between the clamping member 96 and the foil 92 to clamp the margin of the sheet metal against the form or against the wound coil with the exposed edge juxtaposed upon the bus bar 91 to hold the edge of the sheet While it is being soldered or welded to the bus bar 21. A screw 96 forces the pressure member 94 against the foil 92. The pressure member is made from fibrous or plastic material that will not injure the foil. After it has been welded in position, the clamping member Q6! and the pressure member 90 are removed.

After the end of the sheet material 592 has been secured to the bus bar 91 and after removing the clamping member 90 and the pressure member 94, the core, together with end member 80, is rotated to wind a sheet metal coil upon the core. The sheet metal is supplied from a spool lllt). It is tensioned by a tension roller 192, best shown in FIGURE 2, that is mounted upon a pair of brackets 104 (only one of which has been shown, there being one bracket for each end), pivotally mounted at 1% and biased upwardly by a rod 11%) mounted on a crank arm 112 fixedly attached to a shaft 114 having mounted thereon a second crank arm 116 actuated into tensioning position by a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder 120. The tension roller 102 cooperates with a pair of rollers 122 and 124 to tension the copper strip.

In order to properly align the copper sheet material, a pair of guides, adjustably mounted, engage the sides of the sheet metal to align the same. Nylon guides have the necessary characteristics to align the sheet without damaging the margins of the sheet. Any other suitable material may be used. The guides are adjustably mounted, so that the guides may be properly positioned with respect to the sheet of copper.

It is not only necessary to supply a sheet of copper; but it is necessary also to supply a sheet of insulating material. by the dot-dash line 149. This may be paper or any other suitable insulating material, as for example, some of the recently developed plastic materials that are used for insulating purposes.

The core is rotated until the desired number of turns have been wound. When the desired number of turns have been wound in position, a second bus bar is mounted. The end of the sheet material is then welded or soldered to this second bus bar. This second bus bar is held in position in a manner similar to that used in connection with the bus bar 91.

A high tension wire 97 is then wound uponthe low tension windings. For this purpose, a spool of wire may' be located to the rear of the machine, the wire being fed over a traversing roller 30 and downwardly under a traversing guide roller 32, as shown in FIGURE 1. The end of the wire before the winding is commenced is clamped to a clamping device 1543, shown in FIGURE 1. In this figure only one clamping device 15% has been shown, although any number of clamping devices may be used. This holds the end so that it is exposed after the high tension coil has been Wound. A layer of insulating material may be laid between each tier or layer of high tension windings. The voltage drop across each winding is very low, in that it merely represents a voltage drop in one convolution. However, the voltage drop from one layer to another is much greater, depending upon the number of turns in each layer. That being the case, a piece of insulation may be inserted between the layers, so as to insulate the layers'from each other.

In some installations two or more spaced low tension windings may be used and several high tension windings may be used. When this is the case, a third bus bar is used. Then another low tension winding is wound from foil. After this has been completed, another bus bar is inserted into position and the end of the second This is fed from a second roller and represented material winding is secured to this bus bar. This may be followed by another high tension Winding. The number of various windings is a matter of choice. Furthermore, the high tension winding in the several high tension coils may not necessarily be made from the same high tension wire. A smaller size wire may be used in one high tension coil than in another. However, when a smaller wire is used, there may be more turns, so as to have a higher step-up voltage.

As may be readily seen from FIGURE 2, provision has been made for several channels for sheet material. As may be seen by referring to FIGURE 1, a spool rack 160, containing a number of spools of copper and paper or insulating material, has been shown. The strips of copper on the several spools may vary in width for use with various types of transformer windings, so that when a transformer that is wound from a given size of copper sheet material has been completed, the succeeding transformer may use a narrower or a wider sheet of strip material. This is accomplished by adjusting the bracket members $9 toward and away from each other to accommodate the desired width.

As may best be seen by referring to FIGURE 5, a plurality of cylinders 17%, 172 and 174 are each provided with a piston rod a, 172a and 17411, respectively, engaging sprocket wheels 180, 182 and 184. Whenever a layer of high tension wires has been Wound, one of these cylinders 1%, 172 and 174- is energized to feed a strip of paper or insulating material from a roll of the proper length to form a layer of insulation overlying the last layer of the high tension coil. Again, these several cylinders are associated with separate rolls of insulating material for various widths of transformers.

The ratchet gears 13%, 182 and 184 are mounted upon shafts lliill, 133 and 185 respectively, having mounted thereon eccentrics 1%, 188 and 1% that engage bifurcated levers 192, 194 and 1% pivotally mounted upon pivots 198, 296 and 2692 respectively. These levers 182, 194 and 1% support the rollers 2%, 268 and 21!) respectively. When one of the piston rods 179a, 172a or 174a is actuated, its corresponding eccentric will actuate its bifurcated lever to cause its roller to engage the sheet material to feed it to the transformer, so as to cover a layer that has already been wound in readiness for a succeeding layer. As soon as sufiicient material has been fed out, the piston rod is actuated in the opposite direction to release the roller to stop feeding out more material. The control of the feeding of the sheet material is preferably done manually, in that the length varies according to the outer dimensions of the windings that are being covered.

In order to stop the feeding of the sheet material, it is preferable to apply a brake to the feed rollers 192, 2%, 2% and 2% respectively. A brake is applied to the roller 1&2 by means of a brake band 226 engaging a brake drum 222 mounted on the shaft supporting the roller 102. This is accomplished by a hydraulic device including the cylinder 224 actuating a piston rod 226 to apply the brake. A similar device may be used for applying brakes to the rollers 2%, 2% and 210. The same reference numerals will be applied to each of the brake bands, brake drums, cylinders and piston rods for the several rollers. This brake mechanism includes a brake band 230 mounted upon a brake drum 232, the brake band being actuated by a piston rod 234 in a cylinder 236.

In winding a coil, the form is rotated and the proper winding material is wound so as to form a coil. Insulating material is provided for insulating the separate layers. one from the other. As stated above, the sheet material is attached to the bus bars located in appropriate slots. The end of what may be referred to as a wire winding is clamped by the clamping device 156 mounted upon one of the end or bracket members 80 or 82, there being one clamping device for'each terminal of the wire winding.

Although the preferred embodiment of the device has been described, it will be understood that within the purview of this invention various changes may be made in the form, details, proportion and arrangement of parts, the combination thereof and mode of operation, which generally stated consist in a device capable of carryin out the objects set forth, as disclosed and defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim:

1. For use in a winding machine for winding layers of foil and layers of wire and for attaching a bus bar to at least one end of a layer of foil, a coil form assembly including a core member and a plurality of arms forming coil retaining means, clamping means for temporarily clamping an end of a layer of foil to said core member adjacent said bus bar, said arms having slots removably supporting said clamping means while an end of a layer of foil is being permanently attached to the bus bar, and means connected to said arms temporarily supporting a bus bar when the foil is wound upon the core.

2. For use in a winding machine for Winding an electrical coil of foil and for attaching a bus bar to at least one end of the foil with one end of the bus bar projecting outwardly from the foil, a rotatably mounted form for winding foil including a core member about which foil is Wound, and a plurality of laterally disposed arms removably supporting the core member, there being at least one pair of arms located on each end of the core member, and means supported on the arms for supporting a bus bar while winding a coil of foil.

3. For use in a winding machine for winding a transformer having at least one Winding consisting of a foil and at least another winding consisting of a who, and for attaching the ends of the foil to a pair of bus bars, one extending across each end of the foil, each of the bus bars having ends projecting beyond the margin of the foil, a rotatably mounted form for winding said transformer comprising a core, at least one pair of laterally disposed arms rotatably supporting the core, clamping means temporarily clamping one end of a layer of foil to said core adjacent a bus bar to be attached to said one end of the foil, each of said arms having at least a pair of slots for temporarily supporting said clamping means while a bus bar is being attached to the end of a layer of foil wound on said core, and brackets attached to the arms for supporting a bus bar attached to a layer of foil during the winding of the transformer, and means on the arms for holding the ends of the wire used in another winding.

4. The structure of claim 3 wherein there are more than one pair of said laterally disposed arms, said arms removably supporting the core, one arm of each pair being located on one end of the core and the other end of each pair being located on the opposite end of the core, the arms of each pair being aligned.

5. For use in a winding machine for winding an electrical coil with metallic foil and for attaching a bus bar extending across at least one end of the foil with the bus bar projecting beyond the sides of the foil, a coil form assembly including a core member and laterally disposed arms supporting said core member, one of said arms including means temporarily supporting a bus bar adjacent said core member before the bus bar is attached to foil wound on said core member, clamping means temporarily clamping to said core member an end of a layer of foil to be wound on a bus bar supported adjacent said core member, at least some of the arms having slots in which said clamping means is seated to support the same while attaching a bus bar to a layer of foil, and means for supporting a bus bar while Winding a coil of foil.

References tilted in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 973,134 Northrop Got. 18, 1910 1,261,872 Tompkins Apr. 9, 1918 2,108,664 Franz Sept. 15, 1938 2,166,852 Meiss July 18, 1939 2,331,371 Bridges Oct. 12, 1943 2,334,880 Marlow Nov. 23, 1943 2,416,540 Nordberg Sept. 25, 1947 2,617,605 Weiss Nov. 11, 1952 2,691,811 Wagar Oct. 15, 1954 2,903,195 Penland Sept. 8, 1959 2,915,811 Zack Dec. 8, 1959 2,951,655 Marcus et al Sept. 6, 1960 2,956,755 Ottenheimer Oct. 18, 1960 

2. FOR USE IN A WINDING MACHINE FOR WINDING AN ELECTRICAL COIL OF FOIL AND FOR ATTACHING A BUS BAR TO AT LEAST ONE END OF THE FOIL WITH ONE END OF THE BUS BAR PROJECTING OUTWARDLY FROM THE FOIL, A ROTATABLY MOUNTED FORM FOR WINDING FOIL INCLUDING A CORE MEMBER ABOUT WHICH FOIL IS WOUND, AND A PLURALITY OF LATERALLY DISPOSED ARMS REMOVABLY SUPPORTING THE CORE MEMBER, THERE BEING AT LEAST ONE PAIR OF ARMS LOCATED ON EACH END OF THE CORE MEMBER, AND MEANS SUPPORTED ON THE ARMS FOR SUPPORTING A BUS BAR WHILE WINDING A COIL OF FOIL. 